Justice and Politics

Any deal between Kosovo and Serbia to normalise relations must include an extradition treaty and bilateral justice agreements so war crimes suspects cannot evade justice - but why is the EU avoiding this?

Representatives of Croatia’s Serb and Jewish communities rejected an invitation from Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic to hold a joint commemoration of victims of the World War II concentration camp at Jasenovac in April.

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik claims the final verdict in Radovan Karadzic’s trial will be unfair, while Bosniak war victims’ groups want a tougher sentence - suggesting that the ruling will only perpetuate ethnic divides in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Croatia’s foreign ministry issued a statement condemning Austrian media for its reports on the annual Bleiburg commemorations, which mark the killing of Croatian Nazi collaboration troops and civilians captured at the end of WWII.

The Humanitarian Law Centre NGO said that the Serbian war crimes prosecutor’s office rejected a criminal complaint that it filed about the abduction of two Croats from Serbia’s Vojvodina region in 1991.

Special Prosecutor Drita Hajdari tells BIRN that Kosovo’s new war crimes strategy aims to boost prosecutions and deliver justice to victims - but she questions whether the political will currently exists to make it succeed.

Thousands of people joined a silent commemorative march through the streets of Belgrade and lit candles in front of the government building in memory of assassinated Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.